18 Inches

 There are approximately 18 inches that exist between a person’s head and their heart. When we think about our head, we typically reference our brain. The brain is the control center for our body’s movements, and oversees the various body systems such as nervous, digestive, and respiratory, regulating their daily interactions and ensuring we remain healthy. Conversely, the heart’s purpose is viewed as being two fold. The physical responsibilities are pretty direct, pump blood throughout the body to provide oxygen so that we continue to exist. On the other hand, the heart holds the significant role of being the figurative soul of a person. What we think in our brain and what we feel in our heart should match, in my opinion, yet where there is only 18 inches that exist between the two, physically, there are miles that exist from how we should be thinking and how we live out our lives each day. 

In particular, when we think about the heart our thoughts center on love. I mean, last week delivered us Valentine’s Day, the day set aside to give your heart to the one you love. When we talk about how much we love someone, you might hear someone swoon , “ I love you with all my heart” and when a young man asks his love to marry him he says that he will “give her his heart forever”. The Bible goes a little further telling us to '... love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Matthew 22:37. The key to this verse is that Jesus charged His disciples to love God with their heart, their soul, and their mind. I think it is safe to say that Jesus was telling His disciples and us to love God with our heart and our head or for the purpose of our conversation today, the brain. 

As we stated in the opening paragraph of today’s FTM, there are only 18 inches between the head and the heart, yet if we are to love God with all our heart and our head the majority of us need to work on closing the gap between what we think in our heads and what we should be thinking from our heart. You see, if we believe what Jesus was teaching us about loving  God with all our heart, soul, and mind, then we also have to take into consideration the rest of Jesus’ directive on love. After answering the question about which was the greatest commandment, Jesus added, “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39. If we, as believers, hold to the truth of the red letters being the actual words of Jesus, then it behooves us to love God above all things and then in conjunction with that command we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. That is where the disconnect between head and heart seems to live. 

In general, we as flesh and bone humans tend to do pretty good with loving those who love us first. That is a “no-brainer”, pun fully intended! But what about those who don’t love us or look like us, and even those who actually do us wrong? The words of Jesus are pretty clear here as well, “... Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,... Luke 6:27.  And just a little further in Jesus’ conversation He explains how to love our enemies, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31. Loving our enemies is a tough ask, but Jesus didn’t leave us alone to decipher this out in our own head. Jesus actually explains that the type of love that comes from the heart is one that doesn’t judge or condemn, but instead it is a love that forgives and gives mercy and grace just like God does for each of us. (Luke 6:37-38)

Anatomically, I don’t think there is much any of us can do about the 18 inch distance that exists between our heads and our hearts, but I firmly believe that we can close any gap that exists between the connection between what our heads think and what our heart should be telling us to do! It’s 18 inches, by living out the life that Jesus modeled, we can eliminate that gap. 

Coach Carter